Sunday, May 14, 2017

The Wages Of Reality

Mike Whatley, director of state and local government policy for the National Restaurant Association, which generally opposes the higher rates, said activists had plucked the long-hanging fruit when they got traditionally liberal places such as Los Angeles, San Francisco and New York City to adopt $15 rates. Other regions are taking a "more measured approach."

"You see it more and more from politicians of all stripes. They are taking a hard look at the economic impact of this," Whatley said.

The stalled efforts come as reports are trickling in that $15 minimum wage increases in other regions are causing economic problems – well before the full rate has been phased in.

A study by the University of Washington last year on Seattle's increase to $11 an hour — the rate is set to rise to $15 by 2021 — found that the region's low-income workers were marginally worse off because of it.

"The city's low-wage workers did relatively well after the minimum wage increased, but largely because of the strong regional economy. Seattle's low-wage workers would have experienced almost equally positive trends if the minimum wage had not increased. Although the minimum wage clearly increased wages for this group, offsetting effects on low-wage worker hours and employment muted the impact on labor earnings," the report said.